David Wright 100 percent confident in shoulder heading into 2015 season

David Wright, who played the second half of last season with a left shoulder injury, is 100 percent confident in the shoulder heading into the 2015 season.

Wright, who is working out with other Mets at the Barwis Methods training center, spoke to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post:

"I’m hitting off a tee, doing flips [tosses]. It’s still pretty controlled, which is fairly normal for this time of year. I feel good. Now it’s just a matter of me trying to get my left shoulder on a par with my right shoulder, just strength-wise. I feel pain free, which is good, feel like the shoulder is healthy, and now it is just a matter of building up that strength. In my eyes, I’m not too far behind where I am normally at this time of year."

While playing through the shoulder injury in 2014, Wright had the worst season of his career, hitting .269/.324/.374 with eight home runs before being shut down in September.

Wright initially maintained that the shoulder wasn’t an excuse for his poor play, but admitted late in the season that the shoulder had been bothering him and that he probably should’ve shut himself down earlier.

Aside from putting the injury behind him, Wright also has high expectations about the potential of the Mets in 2015:

"It’s very important that from Day 1 these expectations and these goals, no matter what the expectations are from the outside, the expectations from the inside are that we are preparing to be a playoff team. That is where the bar is set. The bar is not set to be just better than last year [79-83] or to be a .500 team. The bar is set to be a playoff team."

Thoughts:

David Wright’s high expectations about the team are nice to hear, but the main focus here is on his left shoulder.

There are some who believe Wright’s 2014 season is a sign of things to come, which almost completely ignores the fact that he played the second half of the year with a left shoulder that was shifting in its socket while he was playing.

In the second half of 2014, while playing hurt, Wright’s power completely disappeared as he failed to hit a home run after the All-Star break.

When you look at the fact that Wright hit .306/.391/.492 in 2012 and hit .307/.390/.514 in 2013, it’s logical to believe that his poor 2014 was due in large part to the shoulder injury.

If the above is the case, and Wright is back to 2012-2013 levels in 2015, the Mets will be in good shape.